Six players from the London soccer team Chelsea refused to travel to Israel for a match Thursday against Hapoel Tel Aviv, apparently due to safety concerns. The team has said it was disappointed with the players’ decisions but would not take disciplinary action against them. The body that governs European soccer recently ordered Chelsea to… More ▸
Despite initial reports to the contrary and confusion among its athletes, Britain is planning to send a team to the Maccabiah Games next month. It was widely expected that the "Jewish Olympics" would be canceled or postponed, and it was reported that the British team — one of the largest — had pulled out amid… More ▸
A Rome soccer team was fined and forced to hold an upcoming home game at a neutral field after its fans hung racist banners and booed black players from the opposing team at a weekend match. Fans of the Lazio team displayed offensive banners, including one that read, “A Team of Blacks, a Fans’ Section… More ▸
A Connecticut soccer league agreed to allow two teams to reschedule a boys’ match originally scheduled over Rosh Hashanah, in order to accommodate the Jewish players. The Anti-Defamation League is still looking into a girls’ match that is scheduled over Yom Kippur. More ▸
Jewish soccer moms and dads in a Connecticut children’s soccer league had to have their boys sit out a tournament match on Rosh Hashanah. Now their girls may miss their final event as well because it’s scheduled on Yom Kippur. The Anti-Defamation League’s regional office in New Haven is criticizing the Connecticut Junior Soccer Association,… More ▸
The Israel Football Association said it found no evidence that some members of Israel’s national soccer team caroused with call girls and used drugs on the eve of a humiliating defeat by Denmark earlier this month. The investigation was launched in the wake of a report in the Israeli daily Ma’ariv that the players had… More ▸
Members of Israel’s national soccer team reportedly caroused with call girls the night before their game against Denmark last week. The coach of the team, Shlomo Sharf, said he is looking into the matter, adding that hotel maids might have mistaken the players’ girlfriends and wives for call girls. Denmark defeated Israel in the game… More ▸
An Israeli soccer player was dropped from the national team after being quoted as claiming that the Austrian team is anti-Semitic. “We simply will not accept what he said, and neither will the people in Israel,” the chairman of the Israel Football Association, Gavri Levy, said this week. “We feel very bad about this.” More ▸
Look out, Spice Girls: Here comes Israel’s jubilee. The largest gathering of Jews ever recorded in Britain — about 20,000 – – converged on the Wembley Conference Center in London this week to attend celebrations to mark Israel’s 50th anniversary. The crowd was made up of members of the London Jewish community, as well representatives… More ▸
Officials in Israel’s soccer association have proposed rescheduling Sabbath afternoon games if promised substantial funding from the Finance Ministry. The move was seen as boosting the cause of Israel’s fervently Orthodox political parties. The Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported that officials from the league had been meeting with politicians from the religious parties to recruit their… More ▸
